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All The Way From Greece!

On Friday 14th July, Year 3 were lucky enough to be visited by George, who was originally from Greece. This term we have been studying migration for our topic, and George came to speak to us all about how he felt about moving to the UK, what the push and pull factors were that led him to move to the UK and things that he missed about Greece.

Billie-Joe - "George felt sad because he missed his family from Greece."

Harvey - "The better schools and jobs were the pull factors that made George want to move to England."

Poppy - "George was excited to meet new people when he moved to England."

Callum - "The working hours in Greece are about the same as in England, but you get paid less, so you have to work more hours to be able to buy food and a house for your family."

Phoebe - "George missed the food from Greece, especially the good kebab!"

Big Art Attack

On Tuesday 20th June, Year 3 had a really super time! Miss Green (Miss Green's daughter) came in and held a workshop for us. She's really arty! We were lucky enough to build a Big Art Attack of Marc Chagall's painting 'The Concert'.
We warmed up by making different animals with our bodies, then we had to make up our own mixed up animals. Next it was time for the Big Art Attack, we used lots of different materials and even used the instruments as well. Miss Green then made us keep investigating the different ways our bodies could move and the different shapes they could make by telling us to act out the characters from The Gruffalo. But we still were not finished, we had to use the instruments to make soft sounds and loud sounds and we played in two groups listening carefully to how the instruments sounded. Finally we played a game of sleeping lions to calm our bodies and minds.

Millie - "My favourite bit was when we were doing the big art attack on the floor because it was art and I love art"

Frank - " I liked it when we were making the big picture because it was really fun because we got to use all different materials."

Hannah - " I liked it when we did the art on the floor because we worked as a team"

Sonny - " I liked playing the instruments and being really loud."

Maddie - " I really enjoyed when we were walking around and when we had to stop and be our favourite animal. My favourite is an owl."

Year 3 would like to say a huge thank you to Miss Green for all her hard work!

The Power of Forces

This term in Science, Year 3 are looking at forces and on Friday 9th June, we looked at magnetic and non-magnetic items.

"In our groups, we had two magnets and had to go round the classroom and find different metals that were magnetic." - Hannah

"I managed to pull the key out of the door and then pick it up. It must have a metal in it that is magnetic, it could be iron." - Cameron

On Monday 5th June, we started practising for athletics in Sports Week. We practised some running races and throwing, and then had to practise for the marathon running event.

"The relay races were fun. My team had the most points." - Billie-Joe

"The long race made me really tired." - Rubie-Jane

"I managed to do three laps of the field. I think I could have done another one!" - Prince

Estimating Game

On Tuesday 23rd May, Year 3 played a very tricky maths game! We have started to estimate our answers when doing column addition.
Harrison - "Our target number was 500."
Lee - "We had to roll a dice and decide whether the number needed to go in the hundreds, tens or ones column."
Hannah - "Then we had to add our numbers up and see whether me or Alesha were the closest to 500."
Alesha - "We had to think carefully about where to put our numbers. We couldn't put two big numbers in the hundreds otherwise we wouldn't be close to our target."
Prince - "I rolled a 6 and that definitely couldn't go in my hundreds column! I put it in my Ines instead."

Busy In Maths

In Maths today, Monday 22nd May, we were practising column addition using base 10 and Numicon. We used the Numicon to add our columns separately, starting with the ones, and then we used the base 10 to help us visualise our numbers.
Elektra - "The base 10 helped me see how big the number was."
Virginia - "I like using the Numicon because it helps me to add up my numbers."
Times - "When we are adding 3 digit numbers, we have to add our ones, then our tens and then our hundreds."

Stretching Our Muscles

In Science we have been learning about the body including why we need skeletons and muscles; what food makes a healthy diet and what things we need to survive.
This week, on Wednesday 17th May, we looked at muscles and when certain muscles work.
Jasmine - "We watched a video to see what muscles look like in a chicken leg and then we learnt the names of some muscles. We can remember the triceps, biceps, quads, abdominals and gluteals."
Harrison - "Then we went to the playground to test our muscles. We did different exercises and stretches to see when we felt our muscles working."

Wonkatastic Bars

This term, Year 3 have been studying Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and we were finally able to have a go at designing our own Wonkatastic chocolate bars. In groups, we carefully designed a chocolate bar or cake that Mr Willy Wonka himself would be proud of. However this wasn't the end, we had to all do a presentation in our groups to try and persuade Mr Wonka to use our designs to make a brand new piece of confectionary at his chocolate factory. For our presentations, we needed to think of a name and a slogan for our bar, and then work together as a team to list of who would buy our sweet; what made it special; the ingredients and ... we then had to present to the class! In our presentations, we needed to use lots of persuasive language to make Mr Willy Wonka choose us. Here are our groups presenting.
Virginia - "I worked hard with my group and we did a good presentation."
Frank - "We made a time travelling chocolate bar cake. It could take you anywhere in time and anywhere you wanted to."
Rubie-Jane - "I found it a bit scary talking in front of the class, but I still did it."

How To Move

On Monday 8th May, we had a very fun PE lesson. We tried lots of different ways to move about to help us for our dodging and ducking in our dodge ball lessons.

Paige - "We got into partners and had to find different ways to move around the playground. We weren't allowed to just run or jog. It had to be something interesting."

Harrison - "I tried star-jumping around the playground and moving and twisting at the same time."

Jasmine - "Me and Paige leant on each other's backs and helped to balance each other while we moved."

Sonny - " We played walking tag as well. It was really hard because you just wanted to run away from the people chasing you but you wasn't allowed to."

Prince - "I came up with the idea to have your hand in the air if you had been tagged so we knew who was on it."

Elektra - "Afterwards, we played Simon Says. Some of us were good and some of us were bad at it. I think we need to practise our listening skills."

Pizza Express!

On Thursday 4th May, Year 3 went off to Canterbury to visit Pizza Express where we were able to make our own pizzas!! First of all, we needed to put on our chef hats and our aprons to protect our clothing from the ingredients. We had so much fun rolling the dough and making it in to a huge circle. Then we had to add the tomato puree and mozzarella as the toppings. We found out the pizzas only take 4 minutes to cook in their oven because it is so hot! The best part was bringing our pizzas back to school and eating them for our lunch!

Chocolate Boxes

On Tuesday 25th April, we started to look at different chocolate boxes and what made them eye-catching. We discussed what the word eye-catching meant and found that the boxes would need to be bright colours and some fun pictures on them; we also thought about the writing and how to make that stand out. We then had a go at designing our own chocolate boxes and thinking of our own names. Here are a few of our first attempt.

Dodge Ball

This week, Monday 24th April, Year 3 started to play dodge ball in PE. A few of us knew some of the rules from Dodge Ball Club earlier in the year, but to most of us, it was a completely new sport. We learnt that you place the balls in the middle of the court in a straight line and the players start at either side of the court. We then played a few games and started to learn where we were best on the court. Some of us could throw the ball quite far so we stayed near the back of the court: others stood closer to the centre line because we couldn't throw the ball as far but we were really good at dodging. We can't wait to play again next week and make our throws more accurate.

Stone Age Pots

Throughout this term, Year 3 have been looking at the Stone Age, and in DT, we were able to build our own clay pots.

"We had to go outside on the drive and find sticks and rocks." - Billie-Joe

"They would be used to add detail to our pots. People knew the pots belonged to them because of their patterns." - Maddie

"Then we had to make the pots out of clay. Gemma came in to help us. She was really good and taught us lots of ways to help us build our pots so they would be strong and not break." - Hannah

"We had to roll the clay in to sausages to add to our base. We kept building it up and then we had to smooth out the gaps between them." - Harrison

"When we had finished making the pots, we used our sticks and rocks to add some patterns to the pots." - Paige

"They took days and days to dry properly!" - Bill

"The last thing we did was paint them. But we had to use colours that the Stone Age people would use. We used browns and blacks because they were the colours that they could make." - Cameron

The Good Samaritan

On Friday 17th March, Year 3 read the story of 'The Good Samaritan'. We discussed what the moral of the story was about, and then decided on modern day characters so we could act it out in role play.

"The phrase 'a good Samaritan' means a very kind, truthful and unselfish person. It also means a caring person." - Ciara

"The moral of the story was to be kind and help all of the time. When you are in school, or in public, even if they are not your friend, you still help them. It means you are a nice person." - Callum

What Would You Build Mrs Fotheringham's Statue From?

This term, Year 3 have been looking at rocks and doing lots of different experiments on them to see which one we think would be best to build a statue of Mrs Fotheringham from. We had to think carefully about this because we didn't want it crumbling away and we didn't want the rain to make anything fall off! We have tested how hard rocks are; whether the rocks are permeable or non-permeable; or whether the rocks would be affecting by any weathering.

"I wouldn't use sandstone because the water would make the rock crumble." - Braidy

"The chalk would fall apart. It would not make a statue." - Virginia

"I think the flint would make a good statue because it is really hard and the water doesn't go through it." - Bill

"The best rock would be marble because it is really strong and non-permeable." - Phoebe

World Book Week

We celebrated World Book Day by creating our own Mr Men and Little Miss characters and making up our own stories about them. We had to think of a good adjective to describe our character and then we based our Mr Men on that adjective. What do you think of some of our characters?

Why Are Rules Important?

On Monday 20th February, Year 3 discussed why we thought rules were important and why we should follow them.

Alesha - "They stop us from doing bad things."

Harrison - "They keep us safe, like don't run at the swimming pool. Then we don't fall and hurt ourselves."

Virginia - "We don't get into trouble."

Harvey - "They stop us from cheating like Miss Lavender did in the game with Miss Warwick. It wasn't fair because Miss Warwick didn't cheat."

Bill - "Miss Lavender started on square 10 instead of at the beginning of the game."

Elektra - "You can get into trouble if you break the rules."

We learnt that rules are there to keep us safe and protected even though sometimes we might not want to follow them. We also learnt that they are there for a reason and stop us from doing anything horrible and stop people from doing anything horrible to us as well.

The Stone Age

Alongside Neolithic man, Year 3 will be discovering the world for the very first time. We will develop the skills required to find a suitable food source, learn about the first people from the village of Happisburgh and explore the Stone age settlement of Scara Brae. In English we will be meeting Barney and Stig, two boys who develop the most unlikely of friendships and will be revisiting some old favourites and classic literary characters, The Mr Men. We will be using these much loved stories to help create our own Mr Men characters and inspire our creative writing.

Our Wild Morning

Year 3 had a fantastic and wild day on Thursday 9th February. We had a visit from some very special reptile guests! We were lucky enough to meet some amazing animals, including a chameleon, python, scorpion, milk snake, giant stick insect, tegu and a blue tongued lizard! And we were even luckier, because we got the chance to hold some of the animals as well! As you can see, most of us enjoyed the experience, but a few of us weren't too sure!

Astor Theatre and The Gulbenkian Theatre

On Tuesday 31st January, Year 3 were incredibly lucky and were able to go to Astor College and have a look at the White Cliffs Theatre. We had a back stage tour as well as being able to view a special light show, then we were allowed to perform our pre-rehearsed mimes behind the curtain with the torches. We also found out that it is very hard to walk on the revolving stage, let alone have to perform on it!

"I thought a stage was just like the one we have at school. I didn't know it could be this big." - Hannah

"The lights were amazing. I liked the one that changed colours lots." - Elektra

On Friday 3rd February, we then went to the Gulbenkian Theatre, in Canterbury, to see a live performance of 'The Bear'.

"I was a bit scared at the beginning because the theatre was dark." - Rubie-Jane

"We had to sit quietly because other people were watching the show as well." - Sonny

"I loved the singing bit. I didn't know how they were singing so loud because they didn't have big microphones." - Alesha

"I liked it when it snowed! It was snowing on stage, then it snowed on us." - Christopher

Numicon Shapes

On Thursday 19th January, we decided that we could use Numicon for our maths because we needed some help with our division. We needed to find a quarter of a given number and we found it a bit tricky. We knew we needed to create an array to show our number but that would have been a lot of drawing so instead we decided to us Numicon to help us.

Before we started using it for division, we needed to refresh our memories. We played a game with our partners. We needed to close our eyes while our partner handed us a shape and just by feeling it, we had to guess which Numicon shape we were holding. Miss Lavender even tested us by making us pick a certain shape out of the feely bag!

Virginia- "I know the different colours of the Numicon shapes. I could also feel if the shape was odd or even because the odd numbers have a step on them."

Sonny- "First, I had to think about whether I was feeling a number with a bump or not. That helped to figure out if it was odd or even."

Safety On The Internet

On Wednesday 18th January, Year 3 had a pupil-led talk about the internet and what you could do on there.

"You can play games, watch television and watch videos." - Virginia

"If you want to know something and your parents don't know it, you can look it up and find the answer." - Paige

"You can download stuff." - Harrison

Our conversation then led on to how we need to be safe on the internet and what we should do if we ever see something we don't like or something that we think we shouldn't see.

"Ask your parents or grandparents before you go on the internet." - Bill

"If it's a naughty game, you shouldn't play it." - Hannah

"Block it!" - Harvey

"Do not use internet chat rooms." - Jasmine

"Tell your mum and dad your passwords." - Chance

Year 3 were then told, and shown, that if they did ever see something they didn't like on a website, they were able to click Internet Safety CEOP button and report it, along with the help of an adult.

Light Play

On Tuesday 10th January, we had a play with the torches in Science to investigated what materials were shiny or not. We looked at different types and colours of paper, mirrors, tinsel and then looked at different objects in the classroom.

Phoebe - "The mirror was the shiniest material we looked at, and the tinsel was quite shiny too."

Elektra - "The dark card was not shiny."

Cameron - "Some materials reflected the light. This helped us se if they were shiny or not."

Tricky Maths

During the first week back, beginning Tuesday 3rd January, Year 3 have been looking at 3 digit numbers again. We have practised reading them and making sure we read our hundreds, tens and ones in the correct order, we have then partitioned these numbers and towards the end of the week, we were even managing to order numbers up to 1000! We can't wait to start doing more with these numbers in our maths lessons.

Phoebe - "I can read the 3 digit numbers easily and I know how to partition them as well."

Cameron - "I know that when we order the numbers, we need to look at the hundreds digit first."

Harrison - "If the hundreds number is the same, we need to look at the tens digit."

Poppy - "If the hundreds and the tens number is the same, then we look at the ones number last."

Crash! Bang! Wallop!

Year 3 come crashing into Term 3 with a bump and a glide a slip and a slide! We are introduced to the story of ‘The Iron Man’ and explore the theme of robots in our English lessons. The metallic theme is continued as we study the bin lid crashing dances of the ‘STOMP!’ musical for our topic and look into the history of the theatre and performing. We will be continuing this theme in art, as we look at the Art Deco era of the 1920’s and design our very own theatrical backdrops.

Year 3 Design and Technology Day

To round off this terms castle topic, year 3 spent an entire day designing and making their own cardboard castles.

The main objective for the day was to construct a castle design which included various defensive features that the real castles, which we have been learning about would have had. Some children built working drawbridges, while others built high curtain walls to protect the keep.

“The moat around the walls makes it more difficult for attackers to get into the castle” - Hannah

“We’ve put arrow slits in the towers so that the soldiers can defend the King”- Cameron

Year 3's Class Museum Trip

On Thursday 8th December, Year 3 visited Maidstone Museum to see the ancient Egyptian collection. The children were lucky enough to see lots of fascinating artefacts, including amulets, canopic jars and wall paintings.

The star attraction of the day however was “Ta-Kesh”, a 2700 year old mummy and the only one of its kind in Kent.

After lunch, the children had the opportunity to learn more about ancient Egyptian practices in a workshop where they mummified an orange. The children followed a similar process to what the Egyptians would have used when preserving their dead.

" We put salt in the orange to dry out the juice." - Frank

"There was so many different things to see. My favorite were the mummies and the dinosaurs." - Phoebe

St. Andrew's Day

On Wednesday 30th November, St Andrew's Day, Year 3 gave their first class assembly to the rest of the school. They told the story of Andrew and how he became one of the twelve disciples of Jesus and why he is now known as the patron saint of Scotland. The children worked really hard in rehearsals so that they could give a fabulous performance on the day.

Congratulations and a big well done Year 3.

Finding Fractions

All week, Year 3 have been learning about fractions in maths. We have learned about halves and quarters, and we have also been adding some fractions with the same denominator. On Friday 7th October, we had to match pictures of fractions to a written fraction. We worked together in teams to try and finish first. It was a race against each other!

Taigan- "We worked really well as a team and helped each other when we got stuck."

Harvey- "I looked for the whole fractions because I knew the whole shape had to be coloured in."

Ciara- "This week, I learnt about halves and quarters, and that when you add fractions with the same bottom number, you only add the top numbers together."

Year 3's Marvellous Medicine

Year 3 have been reading George's Marvellous Medicine. We have read up to when Grandma is about to take the medicine that George has made. We then role played what we thought would happen next.

Harrison- "I thought that Grandma would blow up and George would run away."

Timea- "I think that Grandma will turn brown like the paint."

Jasmine- "I think George will keep giving Grandma lots of medicine and she will get really big!"

Orientation Afternoon

On 30th September, Year 3 parents and carers joined us for an afternoon of activities. As we've been studying Ancient Egypt, we decided to make some 3D models of Egyptian pyramids and coffins. We had to cut the net out, stick it to some card, then cut it out again and finally stick the tabs together to make our model. We had so much fun, especially having some squash and biscuits with our mums and dads. Thank you to all that came.

3D Shapes

On Wednesday 21st September, Year 3 got a little bit sticky! In Maths we have been looking at 3D shapes, and on Wednesday we needed to start looking at their properties so we decided to make our own models of 3D shapes and look at the number of faces, edges and vertices. We used spaghetti to make the edges of the shapes and then marshmallows for the vertices.

Charlie- "I made a cuboid and a pyramid."

Chance- "I made a cube with Callum. The cube had 8 vertices and 12 edges."

Harrison- "My triangular prism had 6 vertices, 5 faces and 9 edges."

Our Class Tree

In Term 1 in Science, we are looking at 'Our Changing World' and on Wednesday 7th September, we went to the garden and adopted our own class tree. We looked at how the tree looks now and then made our predictions for how the tree will change. Throughout the term we will be looking at the tree and observing the differences in the tree, including the colour and size of the leaves.

Harrison- "The leaf that I measured was 7cm long."

Phoebe- "I think the leaves will change colour. They are green at the moment, I think they will change to an orange or a brown colour."

On Wednesday 14th September, we were lucky enough to go to the garden again, and to the field. We had to look for lots of different coloured flowers to show that there are differences in our world.

Taigan- "We found lots of different colours of flowers; we found purple, white, red, green, yellow and pink. We couldn't find any blue ones though so we had a look on the computer when we went back to class to find some."

Natalija- "I loved this lesson. We went outside and looked for different flowers. It was so much fun."

The Twits

Our first book of the year in English is The Twits by Roald Dahl, Mr and Mrs Twit are really mean to each other and play lots of nasty tricks on one another. Mr Twit put a fro in Mrs Twit's bed and Mrs Twit put worms in Mr Twit's spaghetti. We have started to describe our own revolting characters, watch this space for our own final drafts next week.

What we are going to learn...

Year 3 starts the children's journey into Key Stage 2 where they are able to develop their skills learnt in Key Stage 1 and learn many more.

In Term 1, we will begin by studying Ancient Egypt, specifically focussing on how pyramids were built and who built them, the Gods worshipped by the Egyptians and their character traits, and the hierarchy within the Ancient Egyptian society.